A man had procured a ‘purported’ death certificate of his wife, a year ahead of her death and the police have arrested the husband and two of his aides in connection with the forgery, today.
The accused, in connivance with two others had forged the certificate to get the assured sum against life insurance schemes, the police had come to know.
Chanchal Samaddar of Panagarh in West Burdwan, a rice vendor, had submitted the death certificate of his wife Pratima at the BDO office, Kanksa, last week with an appeal to stop payment of Lakshmir Bhandar, state’s monthly grant meant for the women. The BDO had forwarded the contentious death certificate to local Gopalpur panchayat, where the officials suspected foul play.
Pratima had passed away on 14 August. But, the panchayat, on scrutiny found that the said death certificate was dated 25 June, 2023 with a counterfeit seal and forged signature. Nanda Roy Mohanty, the pradhan of the panchayat, considering the suspicious motive behind the forgery, lodged a complaint with the Kanksa PS yesterday and the police arrested Chanchal and two of his aides Shankar Bhowmik and Basudev Chatterjee, who helped Chanchal with the illegal certificate.